Grand Opening @ Rustik Tavern

Grand opening at Rustik Tavern almost made me cry!

I can feel the love! At long last we've got a restaurant and a damn good one at that!

Congratulations Rustik.

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More Art Here and There...

Minna Nathanson

Interesting geometry and shape in these stainless steel pieces by Minna Nathanson.





















A girl's gotta love a sculpture of a shoe.








There was an open house with several different local artists' work showcased and a DJ spinning.
















I've always loved pop art and seeing it done in jewelry form is like killing two birds with one stone. The selections available from this artist were surprisingly lightweight, too.

Hats off to North Capitol Main Street, Inc for organizing the event! A job well done can't wait for the next one!

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More Art Displays from 1st on 1st Art + Music Walk

This is a sculpture by Peter Wood. I enjoyed this piece immensely. I thought it blended into the garden perfectly and moved in such an interesting way.

My eyes were glued on it for a couple of minutes looking at it from different angles. It seems off balance and upsetting in a way. The top of it seems to be pointing to something.

This is another one by Peter Wood displayed in another front yard on First Street NW

This one seems a little bit more playful to me, while the other one was unsturdy and menacing.

Christian Benefiel

I very much enjoyed this artist's work as well. There seemed to be a perfect symmetry in the spherical dimensions above. And a wild eccentricity in the one below. The way the beams jolt out in every direction at different lengths suggest a difficult balance. Something that is held together only by accidental meetings and not by scientific architecture. I found both sculptures very captivating.

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1st on 1st Art + Music Walk Part 3

This band was playing next to YogaDistrict. They were pretty good..kind of bluesy, which provided some variety to the freestyling that was going on up closer to Windows.

They set up these awesome guitars as a part of their display later on.

Bloomingdale Wine and Spirits was doing a free, outdoor wine and beer tasting. I had a taste of the Smoking Loon Pinot Grigio, which was very refreshing.

There was a Garage Sale to tackle on the other side of First Street, which had this interesting display of miniatures for sale.

As much as I enjoy basking in the utter creepiness of miniature trinkets, I ended up purchasing this old, snake-like, wilted silver necklace and the 80s Oliver Stone classic, Wall Street. The sequel to that movie, Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, with Shia Lebeouf is coming out soon. Michael Douglas is in it, but doesn't look like The Sheen duo will be back. Hard to top the first one, but it looks pretty good.

Successful Garage Sale booty though.

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1st on 1st Art + Music Walk Part 2

Artist:
Eve Hennessa

Aka Lady Gaga

I saw this aluminum-clad woman walking towards me from across the street and started to photograph her thinking she was showcasing some form of wearable art. After following her to see what the deal was, she explained she was the artist to the jumbo aluminum human hermaphroditic sculpture, Eve Hennessa, and her costume was connected to the piece.


"Aluminum is surprisingly versatile" was her statement.

I thought the sculpture was eye-catching and thought provoking. The costume was definitely in-your-face. I'm not sure if the Lady Gaga similarities were intentional, but either way the influence is apparent.

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1st on 1st Art + Music Walk Part 1

It was a beautiful day in Bloomingdale today. The 1st on First Art + Music Walk was an impressive success.

Artist: Caroline Youngblood

She has begun projects for Bloomingdale-specific works for private clients. You can view more work and contact her through her website: http://carolineyoungblood.com/

Artist is the sister of Hugh Youngblood, who lives in the Bloomingdale neighborhood, is pioneering a start-up clean energy company, YCG, and is officially running for the ANC5C.

Certainly a heavy political presence. I suppose this is a crucial time for the pre-election push.

More to come...

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R.A.P. Pages performance

This is just very end of a very gripping performance. Watch it.

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Location:T St NW,Washington,United States

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These guys are good!

@ the First on First Art and Music Walk

These guys have got a lot to say and play off each other really well.






One was off the stage and one on. The one off was playing with the towel.






They put new lyrics to the New York song by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.



Haha that's my roommate in the green shirt asking them for their album after the show and pointing at me, telling them how good I thought they were.



They were giving out a double disk set, one called R.A.P. Pages Volume I and the other called 'Last of the Greatest, both produced by G-Code Entertainment

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Location:1st St NW,Washington,United States

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The Rib Pit

Been exploring Columbia Heights a lot lately since I work 2 days a week there for the startup. Me and the YCG team picked up lunch from here today.

It's a one man show, so waiting around for a while is something you have to factor in (sort of like @ Thai Xing).


And the inside smells a little off to put it nicely.


But once you get the food its all worth it! So cheap too!


I got the chicken drummers Jr meal and it was delish. The Jr meal is plenty of food for lunch or dinner for that matter. And at only $5.50, you get some bang for your buck. It came with about ten wings, and ample portions of mac n cheese and collared greens. I've never been a fan of collared greens personally. No matter how you season them, they always seem to taste like wet grass soaked in battery acid. But they were out of green beans and there was more than enough food in the meal to make up for it.



The Rib Pit Lounge was next door and I was wondering if it serves as a nighttime spot or has some sort of sit-down space to supplement the carryout space next door. It didn't appear to be anything open for business though...more like the condemned remnants of some old restaurant extension.

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Location:14th St NW,Washington,United States

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Affordable Housing protest by Shaw/Howard metro

So I guess these are people who have homes protesting for people who don't? The group staging the protest is called ONE DC and they are trying to get low-income housing in this lot at the corner of 7th and Rhode Island Ave NW, otherwise known as Parcel 42.

They are opposed to the condos that are slated to go into Parcel 42 and seemingly to the gentrification of the area in general. Apparently Mayor Fenty promised low-income housing development for this lot back in 2007.


The organization has now propped up a "tent city" to protest the decision. I wonder how long they will last out there or if they will get what they are seeking.


The protest sign says "Condos for the rich Dirt for the poor"


Gentrification of this area sparks such heated controversy all the time.

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Location:Parcel 42 @ 7th and Rhode Island NW

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